I’m a data kind of guy. Give me a spreadsheet or database full of data, give me the tools and access to the data and I love to play around and see interesting things.

One area where there is a lot of data to look at which is relevant here, is the US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. A clearinghouse of data on agriculture and food, I could easily spend hours just looking at all of the interesting finds.

Recently, Time magazine posted an article where they looked at some of the most popular foods in America. The data behind this article came from the USDA ERS. While the data looks at food availability (versus actual consumption), you can assume a strong correlation between the two and I will assume as such. Here are a couple of interesting finds:

After consuming an all time high of 160.9 pounds of added sugars per person in 1999, we were down to 138.9 pounds in 2012. Still high, but heading in the right direction.

Mozzarella is the most popular cheese (go pizza!). We ate 11.5 pounds of it per person.

Chicken is the most popular meat consumed, passing Beef as the leader about 8 years ago. The three biggies (chicken, beef and pork) all had lower consumption levels in the last year reported than the year below. More vegetarian and fish eating are the likely reasons. I know I’ve tried doing that too.

1. Blend the butter with the parsley, Parmesan cheese, garlic and pepper until well combi- ned. Spread the butter mixture evenly over one side of each slice of bread. Place a slice of Cheddar, on the unbuttered side, of the other 2 slices of bread. Toss the mozzarella with the Gruyere and sprinkle over the Cheddar. Top the sandwiches with the remaining bread, buttered-side-out.

2. Turn the grill on. Select the program and press . Once the purple indicator light has • 1 tbsp (15 ml) melted butter stopped flashing, place the sandwiches on the grill and close the lid

3. Cook until the indicator light has changed to red or until the cheese is melted and the bread is toasted.